We’re all set for the District 11 Championship this weekend at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  I got down to the club this afternoon, got everything unloaded and met some of the out-of-towners who were trickling in.  A few of us went out for some practice.  After sailing 21 of us went out to dinner and then we hung out at the club before calling it a night.

Tomorrow we’ve got overcast skies and 10-15 out of the south east.  We should have right around 40 sailors with about 12 or so in the Radial fleet.  It’ll be some fun racing tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it.

View from the top of the mast of our practice

 

First day of the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship at Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach NC.   I was on the fence and decided to go with the standard rig.  We had mostly clear skies with 10-14 knots of wind.  The first race started around 11:45  and I had a good start out to the left.  On the very first tack of the very first leg of the first race my vang broke.  I’m not sure if I just didn’t have the pin in all the way or what happened, but I spent two minutes getting that straight and being DFL at the first mark.  I made up a little over 5 boats and ended up 37 out of 45 boats. 

In the second race I had a great start and was able to hold my lane most of the way up the first beat. I hung with the main pack and managed a 26th place finish. In the 3rd and 4th races the wind calmed down a bit and the lumpy sea state made it tough to maintain boat speed. I was well into the 30’s boat races putting me in 33rd for the regatta.

After racing I cleaned up and put away the boat. We ate the regatta dinner and then hit downtown Wilmington with the Annapolis crowd.

After a half day of work and an afternoon drive to Wrightsville Beach North Carolina I’m at Carolina Yacht Club for the Laser Atlantic Coast Championship this weekend.  It looks like we’re going to have some beautiful weather with warm conditions and mostly sun.  That also means the wind could be a little light at times.

Sunset on the sound at Wrightsville Beach NC

This evening I hung out with the SSA crowd who have a house a couple blocks down from the club.  We had a lasagna dinner and watched the sunset.  Approximately 16 sailors from District 11 have made the trip down.  We’ve all got D11 pinnies so we should be easy to spot.

Watching the Sunset on the sound at Wrightsville Beach NC

Saturday was my first time back to Deltaville since the Tornado came through last weekend.  I was surprised to see how much had already been cleaned up and put back together.  With last weeks racing cancelled, this was the first day of offshore sailing and I was aboard Wavelength. It was a bit cloudy, but warm and we saw 15 knots with gusts to 30. It was a bit wild at times with the kite up in winds over 25.

Here’s some video of the damage and some highlights from FBYC’s Offshore Spring Series #2.

The Sunshine Open was a bust for me.  On Sunday morning the wind was already well into the 20’s with a forecast calling for it to get into the 30’s and direction that would make it a difficult beat to get back to the club.  There was no way it was going to be a fun day on the water so I headed back to Richmond instead.

Going back to Saturday evening in Deltaville, Fishing Bay Yacht Club was having their Opening Day Regatta and Dinner. There were about 100 people in the clubhouse having dinner.  About 7:30, just as most people were finishing their dinner, a storm came through Deltaville and with it a tornado that passed about 3/4 of a mile from the club.

About 15 minutes later my phone started blowing up with tweets and text messages from various club members along the path of the tornado.  I spent much of the evening gathering reports, relaying information and looking up other information online about what had just occurred.  And based on the reports I posted updates to the club website and put out a map of the tornado’s path through Deltaville which turned out to be pretty accurate.

Thankfully everyone in the Deltaville area was unharmed, but at least one club members home received significant damage and several buildings and other homes in town were wiped out.  Here are some pictures from someone who was there.

No racing today for the first day of the Sunshine Open at Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis.  With gale warnings and thunderstorms in the area we weren’t able to get on the water.  Through the afternoon we saw winds topping 30 knots.  The regatta dinner and band is still on for tonight.  Here’s some video of the conditions.

Las Vegas Strip

Spent 3 days and 3 nights in Las Vegas for JG’s bachelor party.  My first time in the city since I was 14 and it was quite different being able to go in places and gamble.  We got to see a bit of everything from the south end of the strip to the old casinos on Fremont street.

JG's Bachelor Party